Home to Roost
by diggertheburrowingowl
Summary: Ep. 307- his team aren't the only ones who love Greg. CLIFFHANGER! Greg Parker/OC
1. Chapter 1

_*** Preview***_

"Ed?"

Ed swore silently as Spike's voice cut into what he considered to be a vital train of thought. "Not now, Spike, I'm talking to Keach."

"But, Ed…"

"Spike, concentrate!" Ed barked. "I'm worrying about the boss-"

"This is about the boss, Ed!" Spike retorted. That Spike had raised his voice was enough for Ed to put his phone conversation on hold, adjust his headset, and ask, "What do you got, Spike!"

With the affirmative from Ed, Spike led off with "go ahead, guys. Patch into Keach's phone as well, if you can." When a male voice answered, "got it," it was heard by everyone, including Keach and Ed.

"Hello?"

Ed cringed when the response came through. "Ed, it's Silvia. What the hell is going on?"

"Tamory, what the hell-"

"Keach, shut up," Silvia snapped, causing everyone's eyes to go way wide. "Eddie?"

"Greg's been kidnapped in connection with a ten-year-old case. Here's the name." As he read off the name, Ed could hear her reciting it back to someone. "The file's sealed."

"No shit," came the reply. "Keach, what happened that night?"

"What makes you think-"

"Why the hell would you still be talking if you couldn't tell us?! For God's sake, Keach, just tell us what happened!"

"There's a reason that files are sealed, Silvia!"

There was a pause, then a new voice came on the line. "Hello?"

"Who's this?"

Silvia took a deep breath. "That, Keach, is the sound of the young man who will be hacking the file to find out what happened if you don't tell us yourself."

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"No, sir. She's not. If you don't tell us, I can technically hack in and crack open the file."

"And why," asked Keach, slowly and carefully, "would you do that?"

"Not that it matters, sir, but I really would like to make sure that my old man gets out of that warehouse alive."

This time, following the silence, it was Ed who spoke.

"Dean?"


	2. 20 hours ago the night before

(20 hours before- the previous night)

"Okay, people, we had good day today," Parker announced to as the team sat in the briefing room at the end of their shift. "Nice job on patrol, no critical incidents- the city still thinks we wear the cool pants." Everyone cracked a smile at that comment.

"Okay," Parker continued. "We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Let's all go home, get some rest, and be here ready to roll tomorrow afternoon."

As everyone got up and began to exit the briefing room, Ed decided to hang back a little longer.

"You need something, Ed?"

Ed cleared his throat. "Nothing, boss, just wondering how you're doing."

Parker looked up, briefly, and then looked back down at his paperwork. "I'm fine, Ed."

"Good, that's good." There was a slight pause before Ed spoke again. "So, I was talking to Gish earlier, from Homicide?"

"What'd he say?"

"Nothing much, really- just wanted to make sure we had everything we needed for tomorrow."

"That was nice of him," Parker replied, gathering up the files in front of him and stacking them one on top of the other, then picking them up and making his way out of the briefing room.

Ed fell in right behind him. "Saw your girlfriend's name in the report a few times," he commented as they walked to the front desk.

"That makes sense, seeing as she is a Homicide detective," Parker replied as he dropped the files on the edge of the desk. "Here you go, Kira."

"Thank you, Sarge," Kira replied, hading him several pieces of paper from the fax machine. "Memo from HQ."

Ed leaned against the edged of the desk. "Have you talked to her lately?"

"Three days ago," Parker responded absently, eyes fixed on the memo.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Halloween."

"We were working on Halloween," Ed pointed out.

"And I disappeared for ninety minutes," Parker countered.

"Oh." Ed thought for a minute. "You should call her."

"You should," Kira interrupted, jumping in before Parker could give Ed a response. "I talked to her last night; apparently, now seems to be a good time to take a few days off."

"Sounds good to me," Ed concurred, smiling first at Kira, then at his boss.

"You two wouldn't be trying to tell me something, would you?"

"Who, us?"

Parker chuckled. "Alright, you win." Pulling his phone out his pocket, he punched in the now familiar number, then put the phone to his ear.

The phone was picked up almost immediately, but it was a few seconds before an extremely hassled-sounding voice came onto the line. "Tamory residence."

Parker smiled. "Hey Sylvia, it's Greg."

"Oh. Hi."

"That's it? 'Oh, hi.'"

The voice shifted from being hassled to being indignant. "Hey, buddy, it's as stressful for us common worker bees downtown as it is for you guys and your cool pants."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Parker conceded as he started to walk towards the locker room. "So it was a busy day for you guys?"

"I had to drive all the way to Kingston to talk to some people at RMC, and then I had to go to Trenton to speak with the victim's family- remember the gut who's had it in for kids in the military?"

"I remember," Parker said as he walked into the locker. The other guys, who had gotten to the locker room only moments before, did their very best not to look like they were eavesdropping- not that the boss had noticed, yet.

"Did you catch him?" Parker continued as he opened his locker and started his end of day routine.

"Yes, finally. Gish and I literally had to bolt from the crime lab to the suspect's house. I think we broke the sound barrier."

Parker laughed. "I can see Gish doing something like that. How did it turn out?"

"Well, he's in custody, obviously- that was a pain in the wouldn't expect meth heads to run so fast.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The brush-off tone was one Parker had heard too many times to count. "Sylvia-"

"Okay, okay, I bruised a few ribs."

"And?"

"And I sprained my wrist and won't be able to sit right until the bruise on my back goes away. Yeesh." Parker heard a creak that probably meant that Sylvia had sat down on the couch.

"Look," she continued, "if you're that worried, why don't you come over here and take care of me?"

"I wouldn't get in Charlie's way?"

"Absolutely not. In fact, if I can manage to get out, you could take me to watch him kick some Mississauga peewee hockey butt." She paused to take a breath. "That and I have a surprise for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's… it's something that Lewis and I had been planning for a long time."

As most of team did when Lewis was mentioned, Greg chose to fall silent.

"Greg?"

"Well," he said, "if it's something that both you and Lewis had a hand in, I don't see how I could refuse." He could hear her breathe a sigh of relief, but chose not comment on it. "I'm guessing this is happening on Saturday?"

"Saturday it is," Sylvia replied. "Can you be here for noon?"

"Noon sounds good. I can be there for noon. Do you want me to bring anything?"

"Just yourself- and your camera, in case you want to take pictures."

"Myself, camera. Anything else?"

"A very large bottle of Advil."

"Have some chicken noodle soup and call me in the morning."

"Ha-ha. You just remember who made sure you guys had all the details for tomorrow night."

"We are eternally in your debt. Now, get some rest."

"Whatever you say, Sarge."

"Funny. I'll see you on Saturday, alright? Take care."

"Bye."

After Parker had ended the call and put his phone back in his pocket, it was a full three minutes before anyone had the courage to speak up.

"You seeing her on Saturday?" Ed asked. Parker nodded. "Her son has a hockey game that night."

Wordy was net. "What was that bit about you not getting in the way?"

"Sylvia's son- Charlie- he has this thing about taking care of his mom when she's under the weather. It's his thing."

Ed again. "Is she sick?"

"Not sick," Greg told them. "Beat up. She and her guys caught the guy that killed those two cadets last month."

"Nice," Sam commented.

"Yeah, well, what they didn't count on was him being high when they surprised him. Sylvia's got a sprained wrist and some bruised ribs."

"Eh, she's tough," Ed remarked. "She'll be fine." He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. "You ready to go?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm ready." Parker grabbed his own bag from the floor and closed his locker. "Let's go."


	3. Mornings and lunch: Enter Dean

(the next day- T minus approximately 8 hours)

BEEP! BEEP!

"Charlie, your aunt's here, let's go!"

"I'm almost done, Mom!"

Sighing, Sylvia turned her gaze from the second-floor landing to the main-floor foyer, where her sister was just stepping in the door and unraveling her scarf. "Hey Syl."

"Hey." Sylvia took in her sister's appearance. "Is it really that cold outside, Grace?"

"They say it's supposed to warm up drastically," Grace replied as she sat down on the hall bench. "By the way, nice work yesterday."

"Thanks. Same to you."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." That response was guaranteed to get a laugh.

"Nice." Grace took a sip of her coffee. "You talk to your boyfriend lately?"

"Yesterday, and he has a name," Sylvia replied. "I invited him to come watch Charlie's game on Saturday."

"I thought you were gonna… you know."

"That too. He's coming over for lunch, and if we get to dinner time and Greg is still speaking to me, then we'll go to the game."

"You're basically giving him his kid back, Syl," Grace pointed out. "He'll be so happy, he'd probably say yes if you asked him to move in."

"Don't go there, Grace. CHARLIE!" Sylvia took a seat on the just-vacated hall bench as her son came running down the stairs and into the foyer. "Morning, Aunt Grace. I'm ready to go."

"Of course you are." Grace started re-winding her scarf around her neck. "Are you going to be okay today, Syl?"

Sylvia waved her off. "I'll find something to do."

"In this Victorian monstrosity you call a house? I don't doubt it."

"Get out, Grace." Shooing her sister towards the door, Sylvia then leaned over and gave her son a kiss on the cheek.

"MOM!"

"Have a good day, kiddo," Sylvia replied. "I'll see you whenever you get back."

"Bye."

* * *

Morning at the Tamory house was relatively calm and normal compared to what was going on thirty minutes later in a house several neighbourhoods over.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

It took several whacks from a pillow before a head appeared from underneath the covers. "What time is it?"

"Nine. Now come on, get up. There's lots to be done today."

"Will you get off my shins, crazy woman? Why aren't you out in the kitchen with your sugar-guzzling girlfriend?"

"She left. Come on, Dean, get up. Amuse me."

"Get. Off. My. Shins, Live."

As the petite bundle of energy now identified as Liv scooted to the end of the bed, a neck, a pair of shoulders, and the rest of the physical form belonging to one Dean Parker joined the head that had emerged from under the blanket.

"Your hair is sticking up."

"Thanks," came the sarcastic reply. "Now get out."

Liv hopped off the bed. "Your dad's girlfriend called. I told her you'd call back." With that, she left the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

Once he had managed to roll out of bed, Dean punched in Sylvia's number on the dial pad, hit the speakerphone button, and began to search for his clothes.

"Hey hey hey."

"It's Dean, Sylvia. Live said you called?"

"Yeah. Did she wake you up?"

"In a manner of speaking- OW! DAMMIT!"

"You okay?"

Dean sat down to pull on his pants. "Tripped over a box. I'm fine."

Sylvia chuckled. "You need to clean your room once in awhile, kiddo."

"It's not a mess," Dean countered. "It's organized chaos."

"Whatever. So guess what?"

"You talked to my dad?"

"I talked to your dad. It's set for Saturday."

Dean got up and walked over to the closet, then pulled out a random shirt. "Saturday's good. You wanna meet for lunch to talk about it?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Can't. Have a seminar. What about today?"

Getting up, Sylvia kept her hand braced against the wall for support. "Today's good too. I have to warn you, though, I'm kind of slow today."

"What happened?"

"Long story. Can't tell it yet."

Dean snorted as he made his way to the kitchen. "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. Don't become a cop. So- Brazen Head, Liberty Village, two o'clock?"

"Sounds good. I'll pay."

"You will not."

"Will so."

"Will not."

"Will…"

"Dean! Shut up and come eat your breakfast!"

"You shut up, Liv. See you at 2, Sylvia."

The next sound that Dean heard was a laugh. "See you later, Dean. Be nice to Livvie"

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

Two o'clock, The Brazen Head Irish Pub, Liberty Village

"Detective?"

Looking up, Sylvia smiled when she saw dean standing next to the hostess. "Thanks."

Dean pulled out a chair and sat down. "You weren't kidding about feeling like shit, were you?"

"No, I wasn't," Sylvia replied with a laugh. "So, what did Liv do to you after I hung up the phone?"

"She wouldn't let me leave until every single piece of food on the table had been eaten. And, of course, breakfast is a three-course meal with her."

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Why do you think I scheduled lunch for two o'clock?"

Dean laughed. "Nice one."

The sudden appearance of the waitress got their attention. "Can I get you guys something to drink?"

"Uh, a Coke for me, please," Dean replied. Sylvia was next. "Guinness, please."

"Of course."

Once the waitress had left, Sylvia turned her attention back to Dean. "So, how does it feel now that you know that we're actually going to do this?"

Dean picked the menu and started to flip through before he answered. "I honestly don't know what to tell you. I'm nervous, obviously- anyone would be. I'm scared- I acted like an ass when he came down to Dallas. What if that's the first thing he remembers?"

"You didn't know that he had changed, Dean."

"What about you? What if this whole thing backfires? I'm worried about how you would be affected- this is a big emotional investment for you."

"I'm touched, Dean." Sylvia reached over and squeezed his hand. "Seriously- worrying about others is a good sign. It means that you're well equipped to handle the impact it'll have on you."

The arrival of the waitress pre-empted Dean's attempt at a reply.

"Here are your drinks," the waitress informed them, carefully setting the glasses down on the table. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes. I'll have the Guinness Cheddar & Beef Pot Pie," Sylvia told her. "Dean?"

"Halibut Fish and Chips, please."

"Of course." The waitress collected their menus. "Shouldn't be too long."

When the waitress had left, Dean took the opportunity to lean forward and speak. "Sylvia?"

"Yeah?"

"There is one thing I am absolutely sure of."

"What's that?"

"Whatever way this goes, I am going to feel SO relieved."

Sylvia smiled. "I guess that makes two of us."


	4. Chapter 4 Flashback

*Flashback*

"_So?"_

_Greg looked over at the woman who was currently doing slow twirls as she walked through the snow. "So what?"_

"_Good choice of ice?"_

_Greg nodded. "Good choice of ice."_

"_Well, it was a very good idea to begin with," Sylvia told him, finally stopping her twirling and linking her arm with his as they walked._

_He smiled. He had been very apprehensive about calling Sylvia earlier that night, and it had been a relief when she had answered the phone with a cheerful voice. Things had worked out even better when she had informed him that, although her son was visiting his grandparents, she would be happy to go skating with him- she even knew a place, within walking distance from her house. It was her house that they were walking back to now._

"_Whoa!"_

_Greg barely had time to react before he ended up taking an abrupt tumble into the snow bank. "What was that?"_

"_Me being clumsy," Sylvia replied, sitting up and brushing the snow off her shoulders. "I never seem to notice the ice at the end of the driveway." Turning towards him, she started brushing the snow off his shoulders as well._

"_Are we back already?" Greg turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, they were sitting in the snow at the end of Sylvia's driveway. _

"_You know," Sylvia said, giving up and flopping back into the snow, " this snowfall is only going to get worse."_

"_And?"_

_Sylvia propped herself up on her elbows. "And it wouldn't be such a good ides to drive in it."_

"_What are you saying?"_

_Who was he kidding? He knew exactly what she was saying._

"_I'm saying you should stay, Greg."_

"_You want me to stay?" Greg asked, looking down at his girlfriend and reaching over to brush some hair away from her face._

_Sylvia smiled before leaning over and giving him a kiss. "Does that answer your question, do you think?"_

_Greg smiled back before returning the kiss. "I think there are better places to make out than a snow bank."_

_*End flashback*_

* * *

It was strange, the things that started going through someone's mind after they got hit on the back of their head. His life wasn't exactly flashing before his eyes, but Greg Parker had thought back on one happy memory and was now being forced to think of worse things- things that might not have otherwise crossed his mind.

/ * _Eddie can take care of things. */_

_/* He can keep the team together. He can keep himself together long enough to find me. I wish he didn't have to, though. */_

He paused to clear some of the fuzz from his head, then continued.

/* _Okay, so- what is Eddie gonna do? Probably follow my phone signal. He'll find out about Haley- that'll be fun to explain to the team. */_

The darker side of the argument chose that moment to rear its ugly head.

_/* Forget the team, Parker- how will you explain this to your girlfriend? */_

_/* Oh, shit. */ _Parker squeezed his eyes shut to block out his surroundings.

/* _She's gonna find out. You know she's gonna find out. Ed's probably put the word out to have every available cop in the city out looking for you. */_

_/* Maybe she'll understand. */_

_/* Even Sylvia has her limits. */_

_/* Forget Sylvia for a second- what happens if they try calling your family? */_

_/* This would kill your parents- what about your son? */_

_/* Oh god, Dean- */_

The sound of the door opening quickly cut off his train of thought.

"Oh my god, Greg!"


	5. Chapter 5 Revelation

A/N- Sadly, I do not own Flashpoint (le sigh). I do own the personalities I have created for Sylvia, her son, and Dean. I also own Grace Tamory and Olivia Katz. Oh, and the Brazen Head actually exists. *-/*/-/-/-/-/*-/ Approx. 4:00 pm

**The Brazen Head Irish Pub**

**Liberty Village**

Dean pushed his chair back and sighed. "Now that was a good lunch."

"Glad you approved," Sylvia said, rummaging around in her ourse for her wallet. When she eventually found it and came back up for air, she saw that Dean had pulled out his own wallet and was handing their waitress the money.

"Nice," she commented as the waitress walked away. "I know you're on a scholarship, Dean, but-"

Dean put up his hand to stop her. "I can afford to pay for a pub lunch."

Sylvia shrugged. "Alright, then." As she picked her coat from beside her and put it on, Dean noticed the item that it had been covering. "Just the one crutch?"

"I landed funny and pulled a muscle," Sylvia replied, leaning on Dean's arm slightly as she got out from the booth. "Did you take the bus here?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. You want me to drive?"

"Pretty please?"

_**in the parking lot**_

" I figured you would have an SUV, you know," Dean commented when they got out to the parking lot. 'You're not the minivan- mom type."

"Oh hell, no," came the response as Sylvia settled herself into the passenger seat. She waited until had walked around to the driver's side and gotten in before adding, 'it's a Hybrid, too."

"Nice. Keys?"

Sylvia threw her purse at him. "In there. Just give me a couple of minutes to check my messages."

Just as Dean found the keys and pulled them out, Sylvia's brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh. That's weird."

"What?"

"My inbox is full."

"So?"

"I cleared it out yesterday." Frowning, she navigated out of her inbox and to the main screen.

"Can I drive now?"

"One second." She punched in the number of the last message and put the phone up to her ear. "Bridget?"

"Finally! Where the fuck have you been?" Her partner's voice came back sounding extremely harassed.

"I was having lunch with Dean Parker," she replied, a bit defensively. "Why? What happened? Our friend the psycho killer didn't escape, did he?"

"From our lockup? Not fucking likely." Over the phone, Sylvia could hear her partner taking a deep breath. "Are you sitting down?"

The little nagging seed of worry chose that moment to plant itself in Sylvia's head; she pushed it away. "I'm in the car, in Liberty Village."

"Is cactus boy with you?"

That did not help. "He's driving. Why?" Screw that- there were only so many reasons her partner would ask that question. "Something's happened to Greg, hasn't it?"

Dean's head swiveled when he heard his father's name. "What happened to my dad?"

Sylvia took a deep breath, then pushed the speakerphone button. "What happened, Bridget?"

It was a few seconds before the answer came.

"Your boyfriend's been kidnapped."

"I'm sorry-what?" It was Dean who spoke instead of her- she had put a hand to her mouth to keep a sob from escaping.

"He somehow got lured to the alley between Shuter and Victoria-"

Sylvia found her voice. "Why would he go there?"

"No idea. Anyway, Team One are on it- they're requesting information like crazy, but all I've got from my end is that it's connected to something involving some teenager named Haley Brynne."

Sylvia grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. "Haley Brynne?"

"Yeah. Kira could tell you more."

Sylvia put aside the paper and pen and pulled her laptop out from its bag at her feet. "I'll call her right away- Bridget?"

"Yeah?"

"You'll keep me posted, si?"

"Absolumente, cara mia. Ciao."

Sylvia hung up on Bridget just as the tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Sylvia?"

She looked put her window. "Drive."

"Where to?"

Sylvia turned her attention from the scenery back to her laptop. "Downtown. HQ."

Dean put the key in the ignition as Sylvia dialed a new number.

"Strategic Response Unit."

"Kira, it's Sylvia. What's going on?"

**the warehouse**

He had gone from lying on the ground in an empty room to sitting on the ground, tied to the leg of a table in the prep room of a meth lab. What's worse, it appeared that Haley now hated him, and that he was slowly being gassed to death. And if he didn't die from gas poisoning, he would be killed in the explosion. Great. A miracle wasn't likely to occur in the next few minutes, either.

This was not good.

/* _You've really done it now, Parker. Being the hero finally backfired. */_

What would happen to him now?

/* _I think the answer to that question is obvious, Parker. */_

_/* Oh, shut up. */_

_/* Now you sound like your girlfriend. */_

_/* Great. Now, in the space of two, maybe three months, she's lost her cousin Lewis and she's about to loose you too. */_

_/* An overemotional Irish- Italian. Perfect. I already feel sorry for her mother. */_

_/* What about Charlie? */_

Greg had to pause to blink a few tears out of his eyes. It was kind of pointless. As soon as his head cleared, a horrifying thought occurred.

_/* You never told her you loved her. */_

_/* She understood. She said she was fine with waiting. */_

_/* Understanding or not, you still never told her. */_

_/* Damn it, damn it, damn it! */_

"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!"

The change in Sylvia's demeanor was dramatic enough that Dean was having a bit of difficulty staying focused on the road. "What's wrong now? What did Kira say?"

"She gave me the rundown on everything Team One's been doing, the stuff they've been looking at- which was easy, it turns out, because some of the files were flagged for various other open cases."

"So?"

Sylvia let out a long, slow breath. "It turns out this is related to some case your father worked while he was still a detective."

"And?"

"And I have no frickin' clue! I think, mind you, I think that I know who your dad's partner was back then, but I've dialed his number a couple of times and it keeps coming up as busy."

"What about calling Team One?"

"Also busy." Sylvia paused in confusion as Dean made a sudden turn and pulled into an empty parking lot. "What are you doing?"

"Getting my computer out," Dean replied, climbing over the seats and into the back of the SUV. "I'm going to work some magic."

"What could you possibly do?"

"Show me a secure system, and I'll show you a back door."

Sylvia balled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. "Dean, you've seen the firewall. Hacking a sealed file could take awhile."

"Not hacking," Dean corrected. "A SIM program. Information mining. Key words and selective info. You know, the thing I was showing you last week."

"I thought that was still experimental."

" We can still try it. Who can we call for this from Team One?"

"Spike- Mike Scarlatti." Sylvia picked up her handheld radio. "Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"I need Spike's phone number."

"Um… 227-1592. you want me to connect?"

"We can take care of it, thanks." Sylvia put the radio down and picked up her phone. "416-227-1592. Come on, come on…"

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings… four… five…

"Hello?"

Sylvia sighed in relief. "Spike, it's Sylvia Tamory."

"Shit. You heard?"

"Obviously. I need you to put me on speaker and give me your radio frequency."

"Ed's talking to Jim Keach right now-"

"I know. We can take care of that too."

"We?"

"Please, Spike, just do it. Please."

Spike sighed. "Okay." First he made the radio adjustments. "You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Spike took a deep breath."Ed?"

Ed swore silently as Spike's voice cut into what he considered to be a vital train of thought. "Not now, Spike, I'm talking to Keach."

"But, Ed…"

"Spike, concentrate!" Ed barked. "I'm worrying about the boss-"

"This is about the boss, Ed!" Spike retorted. That Spike had raised his voice was enough for Ed to put his phone conversation on hold, adjust his headset, and ask, "What do you got, Spike!"

With the affirmative from Ed, Spike led off with "go ahead, guys. Patch into Keach's phone as well, if you can." When a male voice answered, "got it," it was heard by everyone, including Keach and Ed.

"Hello?"

Ed cringed when the response came through. "Ed, it's yilvia. What the hell is going on?"

"Tamory, what the hell-"

"Keach, shut up," Silvia snapped, causing everyone's eyes to go way wide. "Eddie?"

"Greg's been kidnapped in connection with a ten-year-old case. Here's the name." As he read off the name, Ed could hear her reciting it back to someone. "The file's sealed."

"No shit," came the reply. "Keach, what happened that night?"

"What makes you think-"

"Why the hell would you still be talking if you couldn't tell us? For God's sake, Keach, just tell us what happened!"

"There's a reason that files are sealed, Sylvia!"

There was a pause, then a new voice came on the line. "Hello?"

"Who's this?"

Sylvia took a deep breath. "That, Keach, is the sound of the young man who will be gettint into that file if you don't tell us what happened yourself."

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"No, sir. She's not. If you don't tell us, I can technically get in there and open it."

"And why," asked Keach, slowly and carefully, "would you do that?"

"Not that it matters, sir, but I really would like to make sure that my old man gets out of that warehouse alive."

This time, following the silence, it was Ed who spoke.

"Dean?"

"Yes?"

Ed let out a breath. "Sylvia, please tell me I'm not hearing things."

"You're not," Sylvia replied, her voice indicating that she was obviously on edge. "Can we get on with it?"

Keach chose that moment to cut in. "Out of curiosity, Sylvia, from a rabbi to his rookie- what's making this so personal for you?"

"What do you think?"

"… oh. Right."

"There,see. Now will you tell us?"

Keach sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Flashpoint, unfortunately.

A/N: Glossary of characters- Sylvia Tamory, Greg's girlfriend, Homicide detective; Dean Parker, Greg's son; Bridget Tagliaferro, Sylvia's partner and Spike's high school girlfriend(one word- Jamaica); Charlie Tamory, Sylvia's son, 9 and a half; Sarah Moscowitz, Dean's roommate/ Olivia's girlfriend/uniformed TPS constable; Olivia Katz, Dean's fellow transplanted-to-Dallas best friend (Yes, this does mean that Dean is living with a couple of Jewish lesbians- I still don't know where that idea came from)

A/N: Many thanks to FallenStar08, whose name has been given to a somewhat unconventional character

-=-=-=-=-=

If anyone had bothered to look at their watches, they would have realized that almost a full minute went by before anyone decided to speak. When someone did speak, it turned out to be Ed, aiming a question at Sylvia.

"You still there, Sylvia?"

Sylvia let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm still here." She drew in a breath, and then let it out suddenly when she smacked the dashboard. "Figlio di una cagna!"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You wanna translate, Spike?"

"Uh, no."

Sylvia closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'm a little upset here, okay? Listen, Keach..."

"Uh-uh, Tamory, no way. What did I teach you? Never apologize for something-"

"-You do that you know is right," Sylvia finished with a weak chuckle. "Right. I feel better already."

"Fantastic," Ed replied. "We're on our way to where Greg's being held right now. You gonna join us or what?"

"Where?"

"440 Unwin Avenue- the thermal plant. How fast can you be there?"

"Uh, fifteen minutes, but I need to do a few things first. You have uniformed backup?"

"Right behind us. "

"I'll make sure things go smoothly on the HQ end," Keach added. "Oh, Tamory, one more thing before I go."

"Yeah?"

"Get the kid a security clearance before we have to arrest him for something."

Sylvia let out a snort of laughter, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Thanks, Jimmy. I'll call you when this is all over."

"You had damn well better. Ciao."

Sylvia let herself calm down before returning her attention to the conversation at hand. "Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll give you a call when we decide what to do. And, uh, guys? I'm not usually like this. Normally I'm a nice person. Today's just been a little fucked up."

Wordy cut in before Ed was able to reply. "That's an understatement."

The smile was still on Sylvia's face. "True, true. Now, go and save Greg's ass. You get him out, I'll love you guys forever."

Even Ed chuckled. "Bye, Sylvia."

* * *

"What do you want to do?"

"What do YOU want to do?"

"I have no idea."

Sighing, Dean took the key out of the ignition, having not had the chance to restart the car. Sylvia reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a bottle of Advil. "Pass me my water bottle, would you?"

Dean handed her the bottle. "You okay?"

Sylvia flicked the top of the bottle off and shook two Advil into the palm of her hand. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. I think its just stress combined with that hike to and from the parking lot, you know? Too much for the muscle." She downed the pills with a swig from her water bottle. "Christ, I'm coming unglued."

"You're not the only one," Dean replied. "Once Olivia and Sarah find out about this, they'll try to make me OD on matzo ball soup."

Sylvia's focus shifted to what Dean was saying. "Sarah- is Sarah on duty today?"

"Uh, she left early. She was gone when I woke up. Why?"

Sylvia flipped her phone open again. "She should have finished right around, oh, five minutes ago, maybe." She dialed the number and put the phone to her ear.

"And that helps us how, exactly?"

"You'll see." Sylvia's attention shifted yet again when she heard the call being picked up at the other end of the line. "Sarah? It's Sylvia Tamory."

The reply came fast. "Finally! What the hell is going on?"

"Plenty, Moscowitz. You off shift yet?"

"Heading out to the parking lot. Why?"

"One second." Sylvia turned to Dean. "Drive. Warehouse. Go." Turning her attention back to the phone, she continued with "you available to act as a chauffeur?"

"For you or the meshugenah computer geek?"

"Me. Dean and I are headed to the warehouse-slash-meth lab right now. Meet us there, drive me to the SRU, drop me off, and it's kaput."

Dean chose this moment to interrupt. "What about me?"

"Even if he only got knocked over the head, the fact is that your father will likely be made to see a doctor at one of the hospitals or whatever. If it isn't serious, you can be the one to drive him. "If it is serious, you can become an ambulance chaser. Either one works, and it gives you guys some time with each other."

"What about you?" Dean asked, a worried look on his face. Sylvia patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

* * *

*Flashback*

He had been this close to getting into his bed and actually slipping under the covers. So close. After a long shift of Halloween patrolling, plus a take-out dinner with his girlfriend, he was looking forward to having a good night's sleep.

Much to Greg Parker's annoyance, the sound of someone pounding on the door just as he was about to get into bed signaled that it would not happen anytime soon.

Meanwhile, outside, a nervous and increasingly freaked out-looking Sylvia bounced from one foot to the other as she waited for Greg to come to the door. She balled her hands into fists inside her pockets as she swore silently at herself for forgetting that she had put her key to Greg's place on a new key chain that morning- and had then forgotten to throw it in to her purse. She just hoped he wouldn't be too annoyed by the unannounced intrusion.

*Who the hell knocks on a person's door at a quarter to eleven at night?* Greg thought as he made his way down the stairs. *Whoever it is, they had better have a really good reason.* Reaching the front door, he tried not to look too pissed off as he slid the chain, turned the lock and opened the door.

"Sylvia?"

Sylvia offered him a weak smile. "Hey."

All thoughts of being annoyed flew out of Greg's mind when he saw his girlfriend's tearstained face. "What happened? Is Charlie okay? What-"

Sylvia held up a hand to stop him. "Charlie's fine. Me, not so much." She sighed. "I know it's late, but-"

"It's fine," Greg told her as he ushered her inside. "Is it something at work?" he continued, taking her coat and hanging it up in the front closet.

"Sort of," came the cryptic reply as Sylvia sat down to remove her shoes.

"'Sort of' meaning what?" Greg asked, trying not to sound impatient. Sylvia sighed. "I had an anxiety attack earlier. I had to pull into a parking lot and sit there so I could calm down."

"What the hell happened to trigger it?"

"Take your pick!" Sylvia exclaimed. "The flash mob, the drunken partiers, the calls from anguished parents, the general lack of information-" She abruptly cut off and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. "Christ. You probably just wanted a good night's sleep, and then I show up with this. I'm sorry."

Sitting down beside her, Greg gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Don't be. I would have called you tomorrow anyway- we'd have ended up spending time on this one way or another."

"It's just- I mean, how do you justify working on something that seems totally hopeless? Like, why am I doing this?"

"You're a good cop," Greg told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and rubbing his hand gently up and down her arm. "You'll get him. You're Super girl, remember?"

Sylvia smiled. "Yeah, I guess." Standing up, she held out her hand. "Come on. Now I think we're both in desperate need of some sleep."

*End flashback*

* * *

"We're almost there," Ed reported, albeit unnecessarily. "Turning onto Unwin Avenue."

"Hey, guys, got a text from Sylvia," Spike announced. "She's going to drop the kid off at the plant and leave him her SUV so he can drive Parker to the hospital for whatever treatment he'll need."

"And her?" Sam asked. "She's not gonna stick around?"

"Uh, no," Spike answered. "She's having a uni pick her up and drive her to the SRU. Kid's gonna bring the Sarge back there after they're done."

"We're here!" Ed barked, cutting any other trains of thought that had been going up until that moment. "Let's go save the boss!"


	7. One Step Closer

"_Explain it to me again," Greg prompted as he and Kira were walking towards the elevators at the Air Canada Centre._

"_Lou's cousin Sylvia is the one whose dad rents the box," Kira told him. "On random game nights, he'll do babysitting duties so Sylvia can get a bunch of people together for a game."_

"_She's a single parent?" Greg asked as they stepped into the elevator._

"_Yes. She's also the greatest best friend anyone could have."_

_Greg mulled over that thought for a minute before continuing. "So, who's gonna be at this thing?"_

_Kira had to think for a moment herself before she could answer. "Besides us and Sylvia? Her sister Grace, her brother Colin, the Staintons, Commander Holleran, Sergeant Cray, Winnie and Peter, Sylvia's partner, Detective Tagliaferro, and then Sidney Moretti- she's a prosecutor- and two more, one of whom I think is Sergeant Gish from Homicide. Oh, and my dad."_

"_I guess everyone'll be on their best behaviour, then," Greg commented as they stepped off the elevator._

"_What, just because my dad is deputy chief?"_

_Before Greg could answer that question, Kira stepped in front of him and knocked on a door; he realized that they had arrived at the suite. He finished processing THAT thought just as the door opened. "Oh, hey Sarge. Come on in."_

"_Thanks, Winnie." As they stepped inside, Greg was able to take stock of everyone who was there, which did turn out to be pretty much everyone that Kira had named. Turning around in order to hang up his coat, he missed seeing one of the guests pop up from behind the bar and make a beeline for the hors d'oeuvres._

"_Put your hands in the air and back away from the goddamn prawns, Maggie!"_

"_Come on, Sylvia, everyone's here!"_

"_Yes, darling, but we only have so many prawns, and if we let you at them first, they'll be gone in five minutes."_

"_You make it sound like an addiction."_

_Greg saw his opportunity and turned around. "That's because it is an addiction, Maggie."_

_Maggie's jaw dropped. "Seriously, Kira? Of all the people in the world, you invite my big brother?"_

_Kira threw up her hands. "I had no idea you would be here, Maggie. Hey Sylvia."_

_Sylvia was clearly trying not to hurt Maggie's feelings by laughing out loud. "Hey Kira."_

"_Sarge, Sylvia. Sylvia, Greg Parker. Excuse me while I go find my dad."_

"_He's talking to Rollie!" Sylvia yelled after her before turning back to face Parker. "Hi. Sylvia Tamory, Homicide."_

"_Greg Parker, SRU." They shook hands. "So, you're Lou's cousin?"_

_Sylvia nodded. "Some people find it hard to believe, but yes."_

_Greg frowned. "Hard to believe?"_

"_Go back a few years and you'd find Lou's gang buddies asking why he was hanging out with a skinny white girl. Drink?"_

"_Diet Coke, if you have one." Greg followed her to the bar. " I guess not everyone realizes that Lou's family is mixed-race."_

"_Eh, joke's on them, in that case. Or whatever else you want to call it." Sylvia handed him the can and a glass. "Here."_

"_Thanks." Greg opened the can and poured its contents into the glass. "So, I'm assuming you know my sister through work."_

"_Yeah. That, and her- sorry, I guess he's your brother too- anyway, your brother Don was the one who ran me through my rookie phase." Sylvia grabbed a beer for herself and popped the cap off. "That was a while ago, mind you. As for Maggie, we met while I was working Guns and Gangs."_

"_How long have you known Kira?"_

"_All her life- I was five when she was born. Her dad is my godfather." Sylvia sat herself on one of the barstools, and Greg followed suit before continuing the conversation. "Wow. Goddaughter to the Deputy Chief. That must come with some baggage."_

_Sylvia laughed. "I do alright." She took a swig from her beer bottle. "The best thing is that the family mentality actually extends out of the workplace. Sometimes, it seems like I'm co-parenting with a quarter of the force."_

"_Boy or girl?"_

"_Boy. Charlie. Almost nine. Boys run in my family."_

_Greg laughed. "They do in mine, too. I mean, my siblings all have bigger families, so there's a little variety, but…" He trailed off, looking out over the arena. Sylvia took a sideways glance at him. "It's tough. Sorry if I brought up any bad memories."_

"_It's fine," Greg told her, sipping his Diet Coke. "You live and you learn, right?"_

"_I guess," Sylvia answered. "Lou thinks that that's what's made you a better cop."_

_There was a little confusion and disbelief in his voice. "What?"_

"_His view is that, even though you sort of- ugh, sorry, this is awkward." Sylvia spun her coaster around. "He thinks that even though you've fucked up before- pardon my French- you don't sit around and get depressed about it; you take what you can from it, and he sees you using that to try and make things better, all the time." She looked at him again. "Is that too up-front, or…?"_

"_Nah," Greg assured her. "It's fine. In fact, I think I'll make it a point to thank Lou for giving me his ticket when I get to work tomorrow." Hearing that, Sylvia smiled. "Okay then."_

_The sound of the buzzer brought their attention back to the arena, and to the fact that everyone was headed out to the front of the box to grab their seats. They got up from their stools. _

"_Have you ever been this high up before?"_

"_Never."_

"_You're gonna enjoy it, trust me." Sylvia took a last swig from her beer before leaving it on the table. "I guess its game time."_

"Sylvia?"

"Hm?" Shaking her head to clear it of the memory, Sylvia turned away from the window and looked at the person sitting next to her. "What's up?"

Dean gestured to the uniform that currently had his head stuck through the open driver's side window. "Just need to see some ID, Detective."

"Oh, right." Sylvia opened the glove compartment and pulled out her badge wallet. "Here," she said, flipping it open. "I've got my sidearm and backup in here as well."

"That's fine, ma'am." The officer pulled his head back out the window and motioned for them to go ahead. "You're good to go."

Dean moved the car forward, slowly; he took a quick glance in Sylvia's direction. "You okay?"

"Fine." Sylvia looked out the window.

"Where were you just now?"

"Thinking about the day your dad and I met."

"Hockey game, right?"

Sylvia nodded; Dean looked at her, smiled, and then turned his attention back to the road once again. "Hey, look. I guess we weren't too far behind them."

Looking up, Sylvia saw the three Suburbans- plus one van- parked haphazardly outside the warehouse. She could also see their former occupants- well, some of them, in any case. She opened the glove compartment and pulled out her gun.

"What are you doing?"" Dean asked, his eyes on the weapon in Sylvia's hand. Sylvia inserted the clip, made sure the safety was on, and clipped the gun and its holster to her belt. "Stay here."

"Um, no," Dean countered. Sylvia opened her door and hopped out, pulling her crutch out after her. "I didn't say you couldn't get out, genius. I just said you had to stay here. Sit on the hood or something."

"Wonderful plan."

Sylvia ignored the sarcasm dripping from Dean's voice and started making her way towards the warehouse.

"Whoa."

Ed looked at Sam, making no effort to hide his irritation. "Eyes on the door, Braddock."

"Eyes on the kid, Ed," Sam countered. Ed turned to look just as Sylvia reached them. "Gentlemen."

"What the hell happened to you?" Ed asked her.

"Caught a serial killer, remember?" She leaned against the brick wall of the warehouse. "How's it looking?"

"Spike and Jules went that way, Wordy and Leah went that way," Ed told her, pointing his fingers in the appropriate directions. "We're trying to find a door that isn't wired."

"What do you mean, wired?"

"Spike did some checks- one of the doors got a positive for some very nasty stuff."

"Wonderful. It's probably a meth lab." Sylvia stole a glance in the direction of her SUV. "It's a good thing that Dino there does what he's told. He's a little freaked out."

"And you're not?" Ed asked. "Anyway, I thought you were getting a ride out of here."

"So did I," Sylvia replied. "She's either going to get here soon or she'll call to say she'll be late, in which case Plan B will have gone to hell in a hand basket as well." Pausing to collect herself, Sylvia took her first glance in Sam's direction. "Hi."

"Hey."

"Small talk's for later." Ed's voice was extremely tense. "Focus, please. Talk to me, people."

"Nothing's changed, Ed," Wordy reported, his voice staticky through the radio. "There's no way in."

Suddenly, a noise from behind the door made Sam's ears perk up. "Ed, we've got movement on white."

Sam backed up to stand beside Ed, while Sylvia moved to where Sam had been standing. She pulled her gun and aimed it at the door.

"Remember, ask questions first, shoot later."

"Shut up, Ed."

The opening of the door sped things up very quickly. As the guy started to appear, Sylvia swung her hands upward, hitting the guy in the nose and throwing him off-balance. Ed took his opening and grabbed the front of the guys shirt, hauling him over and shoving him up against the wall. "How many inside?"

"It's not my fault! I didn't wanna do it!"

"How many inside?" Ed growled.

"Two plus the cop."

"Plus the cop." Ed tightened his grip momentarily before backing off. "Keep him here."

"Hey!" The kid was still talking. He pointed at Sylvia. "She hit me!"

"She's the cop's girlfriend. You're lucky it's only your nose that's bleeding." Ed moved towards the door. "Sam, Leah, Wordy, with me."

As the four of them disappeared, Sylvia backed off and watched as Spike and Jules took over. She shadowed them as they cuffed the guy and walked him over to the nearest Suburban, where they shoved him roughly up against the front bumper. She was ready to play third wheel for their tag team when the honking of a car horn made her look back over her shoulder. "Be back in a sec, guys." Moving as fast as she could, Sylvia made her way back to where she had originally parked, which was where the off-duty Sarah Moscowitz was now standing beside Dean. "Hey."

"Hey boss." The two of them touched fists. "You ready?"

"Almost." Sylvia took a deep breath to calm herself. "Give Dean your keys."

"What? Why?"

"Because Greg might not react too well when he sees my car, and we don't want him to have any kind of negative reaction. You'll drive me to your place, where you will get out and I will drive the rest of the way to the SRU."

"Will you be able to do that?"

"Drove all the way to Liberty Village at lunchtime- it won't be a problem. Dean will take your car, drive his dad to the hospital and then drop him off at the SRU. After that, he brings your car home, which is where it would have gone anyway, and you don't have to hang around with me while I wait."

Sarah thought about for a few seconds. "Okay, cool."

"Good, just give me a second." Sylvia turned around and made her way back to where Jules and Spike were standing, moving as fast as she could. Unfortunately, this meant that she came within earshot of what they were saying at the wrong moment. The REALLY wrong moment.

"What's going to blow in five minutes!"

"The meth lab. Your boyfriend's toast."

Spike had to step in to keep Sylvia from taking a swing at their suspect. "Easy, easy. Don't listen to him. Just go, okay? Go. He'll be fine, okay? Greg's going to be fine. Just go to the SRU. You'll see him later. Go."

Sylvia looked back at Dean. "You'll keep an eye on him, right?"

"Yes, we will," Spike reassured her. "Tu lo ami, non è vero?"

"Sì, lo amo."

"Sono sicuro che vi ama." Spike put his hand on her arm. "I'm sure he loves you too, just as much. That's what will keep him alive, alright?"

Sylvia nodded, biting back tears. "Tutti i diritti. Grazie."

"Non c'è di che. Now get lost."

Sylvia smiled at him once more before turning around and heading back to join Sarah and Dean.

"You okay?" Dean asked. Sylvia nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. Let's go, Sarah." She reached out and patted Dean's shoulder. "Good luck."

"Thanks."


	8. Chapter 8

"_She's late."_

_A groggy-looking Olivia stuck her head out of the open car window. "What?"_

_Dean looked up from his notebook. "Sylvia's late."_

"_Of course she is," Olivia replied. "It's almost impossible to accurately predict Toronto traffic patterns on a daily basis. "_

_Sighing, Dean closed his notebook. "Maybe so, but shouldn't there be a plan B?"_

"_Again, darling, no one-"_

_BEEP!_

_Dean looked up expectantly, but it turned out to be another one of the car's occupants, Jamie Sullivan. _

"_Sorry." He looked around. "She not here yet?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Where's Austin?"_

"_Getting food." Dean got up, turned around, and opened the door to the second vehicle in their little caravan- a previously owned RV- and disappeared inside a few seconds later. _

"_How's he doing?" Jamie asked, reaching over and pulling a box of Altoids from the glove compartment._

"_He's nervous as hell," Olivia replied. "Would you expect anything else?"_

_Jamie's reply was cut short by the sound of tapping on the driver's side back window. Olivia reached over and rolled it down. "Yes?"_

"_Live, right?"_

_Olivia sighed in relief. "Sylvia?" She got a nod in response. "It's a good thing you're here. He was getting pretty nervous."_

"_Yeah, I figured." Sylvia stepped back to give Olivia and Jamie enough room to open their doors and get out. "Hey Jamie."_

"_Hey." Jamie shook Sylvia's hand before walking around the car and knocking on the door of the RV. "Dude!"_

"_An RV?" Sylvia asked Olivia while they waited. Olivia nodded. "Yeah- my cousin sold it to us. We traded in Dean's car as well- hence the horse trailer."_

"_Hauling your entire lives from one country to another."_

"_Plus Jamie and Austin's luggage."_

_Sylvia started to laugh, which meant that she didn't see Jamie and Dean come out of the RV. "Everything okay?"_

_Sylvia looked up. "Oy gevalt."_

_Dean smiled. "That close, eh?"_

"_It's freaky." The extended hand quickly turned into a hug, forcing Sylvia to balance on her toes for a few seconds. "Hey."_

"_Hey." Dean let Sylvia go and took a step back. "Huh."_

"_What?"_

"_Promise you won't be offended?"_

_Sylvia shook her head._

"_My dad's obviously done something right to get someone who's cute as well as well as willing to go through a whole lot of shit for him."_

_Sylvia smiled, and then laughed; after a few seconds Dean gave a shy smile as well. Olivia snorted. "Nice one, Dino."_

"_Shut up, Olivia." Austin appeared out of nowhere, holding two trays of Tim Horton's iced cappuccinos. "At least he's being honest." She thrust a tray in Dean's direction. "Hold that, Sparky."_

"_I thought you were getting food."_

_Austin held up a couple of plastic shopping bags. "Junk food."_

"_Old Port," Sylvia said, nodding. "Not bad."_

"_Yeah, well, as long as you're in Port Dalhousie-" Austin handed her an iced capp, along with a rock crystal candy pop. Everyone else grabbed their own._

"_Wait!" Olivia exclaimed. "Don't drink! We should toast first." Dean sighed, "What exactly do you propose we toast, Livie?"_

"_Uh, being back in the true north strong and free?"_

_Sylvia smiled. "She has a point." She reached over and tapped Dean's cup with her own. "Welcome back."_

_Dean returned the toast by tapping her rock candy. "Thanks."_

"Dean?"

Dean snapped out of his haze and looked up. "Yeah?"

Spike put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

He chuckled. "Can I get back to you on that?"

Before Spike could answer that, the radio static started running in his ear. "Spike, we need the guerrilla bar, now!"

He took off for one of the other team vehicles, alerting Dean to the fact that something was going on. "What's up?"

"They found your dad!"

The adrenaline jolt that came with those words hit Dean like a ton of bricks. He looked back up and Spike's direction. "Don't tell him I'm here yet!"

"You got it!" Even as he passed off the guerrilla bar and took custody of Kevin Perchevski, Spike kept an ear open for what Dean was saying. "Guys, you getting this? Don't tell the Sarge that his kid is here until Dean gives us the okay."

The response was the same across the board. "Copy that."

Running on a rush with nothing else to do, Dean sat down in the backseat of Sarah's car and tried to control his breathing.

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" Sarah asked, looking over at Sylvia as they sat in afternoon traffic. It was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to turn on the sirens.

BRIING!

*_Chorus of 'The Kill' -30 Seconds to Mars*_

Sylvia jumped at the sound of her phone going off. "God!"

"Relax." Sarah picked up Sylvia's phone to check the caller ID. "It's Kira." She reached up to the rear-view mirror and hit the button for the on-board Blue tooth. "Yo."

The relief in Kira's voice was apparent. "The sarge is okay- they got him out."

Sylvia's shoulders sagged as she leaned forward and buried her face in her hands.

"Thanks Kira." Sarah shut off the Blue tooth. "There it is." She looked at Sylvia. " Didn't we say that everything would be okay?"

Sitting back up, Sylvia used her sleeve to wipe away the few tears that had collected in the corners of her eyes. "Yeah." She paused for a minute before turning to look at Sarah. "Would you mind driving me to the SRU?"

"No problem," Sarah replied. Then, "Gay Avek, you effin' goy klutz!"

"Jesus, Sarah!"

"What? The man drives like an idiot."

Sylvia peered ahead at the car in front of them. "I think it's a woman who's driving."

"Of course it's a woman."

"If you must kvetch, Sarah, kvetch while you try and get us to the parkway."

"A khalerye, farshtinkener schmuck!"

"Sarah! Drive!"

879675658907865786—

"_Dean!"_

_Dean barely had time to turn around before his mother burst into his room. "Um, you could knock, mom. You did say you would try and do that."_

_His mother ignored him and continued on. "I just had a conversation with Olivia's aunt."_

"_Okay."_

"_Apparently, Olivia is going to the University of Toronto."_

"_This is true."_

"_And you're going with her."_

"_What makes you say that?" _

_Joanne- aka Mom- slapped an envelope down on the desk. "Tell me, if I open this, what am I going to find?" _

_Dean took a look at the envelope- it had the U of T logo on it. "Probably my scholarship info."_

"_Excuse me?"_

_It was his mother's tone that set him off, even though he hadn't yet told her why it would make him upset. "Two words, mom- Full. Scholarship. Its more than any other school has offered."_

"_Does your father know about this?"_

"_No, he doesn't."_

"_Really?"_

_That was enough to make him snap. "Read my lips, mother. He. Doesn't. Know. And, before I decide whether or not I want him to know, why don't you give me the explanation for these?" Walking over his desk, he pulled out a handful of old, dog-eared envelopes and threw them down in front of her. "How about it? You want to take a stab at justifying what you did?"_

_&^*%&)^*^&%%&_

Sighing, Dean leaned back against Sarah's car. That moment had not been an easy one; as time went on, the anger hadn't really dissipated all that much. He still wasn't speaking to his mother. Thankfully, as far as he knew, she had made no attempt to contact his dad and inform him of what was going on.

*Thank god for Sylvia and Livie. *

"Ed!"

Spike had barely managed to wait until the suspects had been handed over to uniforms and the boss had been deposited at the back of the ambulance. He carefully made his way over to where Jules and Ed were standing.

"How's the kid?" Ed asked.

"He's shaken up," Spike told them. "Big surprise, right? I think he's just trying to calm himself down right now."

Ed thought that over for a minute. "Okay." He started walking towards where Sarah's car had been parked; Jules and Spike ran to catch up.

Ed knew he had to go gentle as soon as he saw the young man sitting in the backseat of the unmarked Crown Vic. "How're you doing, kiddo?"

Dean's eyes were red from his constant attempts to keep the tears at bay. "I've been better."

Ed looked up. "Guys, could you give us a minute?"

Spike nodded. "Sure thing." He turned and walked off.

"Jules?"

Jules swallowed. "I'll- I'll go check on the boss." A few seconds later, Jules had left as well, and Ed could turn his attention back to Dean. "I'm sorry it had to happen this way, Dean."

"Yeah, me too." Dean took another swipe at his eyes again. "You know what? I think I remember this."

"What?"

"This case, this story, whatever." Dean shrugged. "I mean, for my dad to get kidnapped over a case, it had to have been serious, and it would have affected him a whole lot." He stopped to take a deep breath before continuing. "Enough that he might have gone on a bender, and then come home and had a fight with my mom- a big enough fight that made her pack up and leave the next day, before he even woke up. " His voice cracked. "I was sitting on the stairs, watching. And now, I find out that he's tried to fix things, for so many years, and I had no idea whatsoever. He made this girl's life better, made his own life better..." He stopped again to compose himself. "I turned him away in Dallas; and now, when I find out I was wrong, I almost lose the chance to tell him I'm sorry."

"Do not blame yourself for anything, Dean," Ed told him. "Look at me. Look me right in the eye." He waited until Dean looked up at him. "I don't know what you're dad's reaction is going to be to all of this, but I can tell you that, no matter what happens, he would not want you to blame yourself for any of it." He put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Your dad loves you, Dean."

Dean's voice was bitter. "How can he?"

"Because you're his son, and you always will be." Ed leaned back against the car. "He won't care about any of the mistakes that you've made."

Dean was silent for a few moments; Ed figured he was probably trying to process what he had just learned. He put his hand to his earpiece. "Guys, where are we?"

Wordy's voice came floating back to him. "Jules looks like she's giving the boss a verbal beat down."

Ed strode forward until he was standing a few steps behind Sam; he caught Jules' glance as she looked back at them. "Copy that." He stayed where he was until Jules had finished and walked off, and then locked eyes briefly with Greg before turning and walking back to rejoin Dean at the car. "Feeling better?"

Dean nodded. "A little."

Jules walked up to join them at that moment. She smiled at Dean. "Hey again."

"Hey." Dean returned the smile.

"So," Jules began, "any idea how you want to do this?"

Dean opened his mouth to give an answer, but something caught his attention before he could get any of the words out.

"What?" Jules asked, looking in the same direction.

"The man gets whacked on the back of the head, nearly DIES, and he still thinks about how everyone else is doing." Dean looked at Ed and chuckled. "Trying to feel like less of an ass isn't working.

"It'll work if you try hard enough," Ed told him. "Look, how about I go start to break it to him- Jules will hear it all on the radio, and I'll give you a wave when we're ready."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

&*%$^&*)%$%%%%%%%

After making sure that Haley was alright and that she would make it home safely, Greg turned around and went back to where he had previously been sitting, outside of the ambulance, where one of the paramedics informed him that he ought to sit back down and breathe from the oxygen mask for a few more minutes, just to make sure his lungs were clear.

That was where Jules found him- sitting on the gurney, holding the oxygen mask to his face, and brooding.

"She okay?"

He looked up. "What?"

Jules sat down next to him. "Haley- is she okay?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah, she's okay." Sighing, he turned to look at his teammate. "Jules, I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Jules reached out and patted his shoulder. "I know."

Greg looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I will be." Jules took a deep breath and looked down at her hands before looking sideways at Greg. "Are you gonna be okay, Sarge?"

"I don't know, Jules," Greg told her. "I'm gonna have to do a lot of explaining to a lot of people."

Jules nodded. "Sure, but at least the team's got it already, more or less."

"I didn't just men the team, Jules."

"Neither did I."

Something in her tone made Greg pause mid-thought. " What did you mean, Jules?"

"Boss, when the call gets put out for all hands on deck, that includes retired cops, cops who are on vacation, and even cops who are injured."

Greg ran a hand over his face. "Shit." He looked back at Jules. "She called in?"

"She was here, boss."

"WHAT?"

Jules waited a few seconds before continuing. "She was having lunch in Liberty Village- she drove here to find out what was going on."

Greg could hear the hesitation in Jules' voice. "And?"

"When Detective Keach wasn't sure about revealing what had happened the night Haley killed her mom, Sylvia threatened to have her lunch partner use her some sort of computer program to pull the information from the file."

"Great." Greg shook his head and looked down at his hands. "So she probably knows the whole back story. It's going to be a pain in the ass to try and explain this."

"Uh, boss? Think of the explaining that everyone else would have had to do for you if you had died." Jules jumped off the stretcher, deciding instead to stand and lean back against the ambulance. "What would your family think then?"

Greg started to reply. They would…"

"You know what? Forget that, Jules, because he's alive, so he can explain it himself."

"Dean, calm down."

Dean?

There was no way. There was no way in hell.


	9. Chapter 9 OMFG Pinch me, I'm Dreaming

**A/N: Okay, I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. First I had writer's block, then the writer's block lifted, and of course my fave uncle died, so I was depressed for like a month, and then both computers in the home office decided to crash. I hope this is worth the wait. **

**Disclaimer: I own none of anything created by CTV and CBS. This includes the names of Sylvia, Bridget, and Dean, although I own the personalities created for use in this story.**

_(previous chapter)_

_Dean?_

_There was no way. There was no way in hell._

_*(^&%$%#$^&(*)&(&*^$&%*(&)(%*^$&%^%(*&)(*^%*$_

"Calm down? Seriously? You want me to calm down?"

"I'm just saying, Dean, it's not gonna do you any good to be pissed at your dad right now."

"For me? Probably not, not so much. I'm still allowed to vent though, aren't I?"

Unnoticed by either party involved in the argument, Greg set aside the oxygen mask and looked up.

"Okay, go ahead, vent if you want."

"Sure, say it after I vent." Dean paused for a moment to rummage through his pockets.

"What are you looking for?" Jules asked. Greg was sure he knew what the answer was. "He's looking for his inhaler, Jules."

"That much hasn't changed, at least," Dean muttered, his breaths starting to shorten. "It must have fallen out of my pocket on the way over."

"Nice."

"Considering how close Sylvia normally sits to the wheel of her car, it's probably wedged somewhere under the driver's seat."

"Okay," Greg cut in, standing up. That was as far as he got- he forgot what he had planned to say when Dean turned away from Jules to face him.

Despite his staggered breathing, Dean managed to appear relatively calm. "Hi."

"Hi." The two of them just continued to stare at each other.

Jules rolled her eyes, albeit with a smile. "Okay then." Grabbing Dean's wrist, she pulled him over to the stretcher. "Sit."

As soon as Dean complied, Jules turned to the paramedics. "Mind if we use some more of your O2, gentlemen?"

"Not at all," one of the paramedics answered, handing the oxygen mask to Dean. "Knock yourself ou; asthma can be a real bitch sometimes." The paramedics moved away, just as Greg turned himself around so that he was facing his son once more.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming- hey!" Greg rubbed his arm. "Jules!"

"You're not dreaming, boss," Jules told him, laughing as she walked away. "I'll be back in a few."

Once she had left, Greg turned himself back around once again to look at his son. His son who had given to O2 mask back to the paramedics and was currently staring at his hands.

"How long have you been here?"

The words left Greg's mouth faster than he could think about what he was actually saying. In response, Dean tore his gaze away from his hands and looked up at his dad. "How long have I been back in Canada?"

"Well, yeah, Dean- so how long?"

Dean briefly caught his lower lip between his teeth. "Since mid to late August."

"Jesus." Greg rubbed his face with his hand. "That's three months, almost."

"I know." Dean let out a sigh. "You were actually supposed to find out earlier than this."

"How much earlier?"

"The Friday after Lou died." Dean scratched the back of his head. "The day he died- they were planning on telling you over dinner."

"'They' being-"

"Lou, Mia, Sylvia- all three of them. They were all involved." Dean shrugged. "The plan was to have them tell you and then have me come and pick you up from work on the following Monday, or something like that." He paused. "But, as you now know, the original plan went straight to hell in a hand basket."

"Yeah." Greg looked away briefly before looking back again and finally- finally- smiling. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you again." He put a hand to his face. "Christ."

"Okay." Dean got up. "I'm going to hug you now, because if you get emotional, I'll get emotional, and if I get emotional, I can't drive."

Greg chuckled despite the fact that he was suddenly very nervous. "Okay."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

Once Dean had stepped forward and hesitantly extended his arms, it took a few seconds for both men to take the last step forward and hug each other. While it was awkward for the first few seconds, it got more relaxed as both Dean and Greg got through the initial shock and realized that what was happening was actually happening.

*Click*

Dean opened his eyes and looked over his dad's shoulder at Ed, who was holding up his cell phone. "Tell me you didn't just take a picture."

Ed smiled. "What? It's a Kodak moment," he replied. "Not to mention that it's probably a good idea to bring some photo evidence back with us for your dad's girlfriend." He flipped his phone shut and put it back in his pocket.

Greg pulled back and looked at his teammate. "Don't forget that you're enjoying this too, Ed."

"Who wouldn't?" Ed pulled the phone back out of his pocket and tossed it in Spike's direction. "Here, she called you, you send it to her with a little message or something."

"Sylvia called Spike?"

"Mostly so she could bitch in Italian after we told her what was going on." Spike handed the phone back to Ed.

Greg chuckled. "What did she say?"

Spike bit back a laugh. "I'll tell you later, boss, when we can all laugh about it."

"It was pretty graphic, though," Dean supplied, earning himself a mock-dirty look from Spike. "What? I didn't tell him what she actually said. Besides, he needs cheering up."

"Well, that's your job now, kiddo, cause we need to get back to work." Ed gave dean a pat on the shoulder. "You have to take your dad to get his head checked, while we have to take care of this mess- not to mention taking buddy-boy accomplice over there somewhere where they'll fix the damage done by your father's girlfriend." Ed smiled, Dean let out a snort of laughter, and Greg's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about, Eddie?"

"Sylvia broke the guy's nose," dean told him. Greg's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"You can ask your girlfriend about it when you see her," Ed replied, gently pushing them in the direction of Sarah's car. "Now go- they're waiting for you at St. Pat's, and you can't really do anything here."

"Hey Eddie?"

"Yeah, boss?"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now GO."

_(*&^%&$#^%$&^%&^(*&)(*^&%*$^*%&(*&)_

_Next chapter: Sylvia gets to the SRU; The Parker family descends en masse- prepare to meet Donnie, Maggie, Emily, Bobby, and Scott; TJ, Amelia, Piper, and Salem, as well as Liam Rangford, Daisy Gish Bridget Tagliaferro ,Sidney Moretti, Chief Marlowe, and... dundundun... Retired (Deputy) Chief Alan Parker –yay!_

_... oh, and Marion Parker, aka Mommy. (uh-oh... she's not gonna be happy when she finds out what happened...)_


	10. Family, Part One

_Disclaimer: I do not own Flashpoint. (see previous disclaimers) I do, however, own Mia, TJ, Emily, Piper, Scottie, Sidney, and Bobby. _

_Sorry it took so long to update- writer's block, again. But, seeing as I'm in a course called Professional Writing, I'll probably be making more regular updates as I practice my writing to all the patient people!_

_Review, or Mia will hack into your computer and wipe your hard drive._

_Mia: I will not!_

_Mia, these are the people. Their reviews feed, clothe, and house you, so don't be a bitch._

_Mia: (rolls her eyes)_

_%$##^*&(&^%^&$%^*^&(*&)(*_)&^&$*&%_(*^%&_

"Do you know where St. Pat's is?"

"University and Gerrard."

"You know how to get there?"

"Piece of cake." There was a loud beep. "Crap. Excuse the mess. This isn't my car."

"Okay." It wasn't unitl he sat in the front seat and looked around that Greg realized why he's been givin the heads-up. "Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a giant monkey in the backseat."

"Like I said, not my car," Dean replied, turning the key in the ignition and doing a slow three-point turn. "It's my roommate's. She's a bit of a pack rat."

"She?"

"Sarah Moscowitz- she works out of Beechwood Drive, with the Canine Unit."

"Just the two of you?"

"Nope. Five of us- me, Sarah, my friend Olivia, Jamie Sullivan, and Austin Hennessy."

"Sylvia's cousin Austin?"

Dean nodded. "Yep." He turned the car onto Leslie. "The house is just off of Spadina Crescent, on Willcocks Street, on the end of Sussex Mews. Good place for us."

"Makes sense- university's right there, within walking distance." Greg adjusted his seat so that it reclined a bit further. "Helps with the readjustment if everything is just a little bit easier."

"Something like that." Dean peered out the front window. "Oh-kay..." Taking a left, Dean now found himself staring at a sea of bumpers. "Lovely."

Gotta love the traffic in this town, huh?"

"I don't mind it, sometimes," Dean replied, eyes on the road. "At least there's no room for drunken street racers."

"Do I wanna know?"

"Probably not."

$%^&*(*&^%^&*

A few minutes later, they found themselves finally able to move, making a turn onto Lower Jarvis, Front, and eventually University Avenue.

"How did you get here?" Greg asked. ""Flying?"

"Are you kidding?" Dean shot him a look. "There is no way in hell I'd get on a plane unless it was the absolute last resort."

Greg snorted in laughter. "I always thought you'd eventually grow out of that."

Dean shook his head. "Nope. I almost didn't go on the senior trip to Cancun."

"But you did go?"

"Thanks to Olivia. She loaned me an old pair of crutches so that I could get on with Priority Boarding and then gave me a sleeping pill as soon as I sat-" Dean abruptly cut off as his eyes took a quick dart to the right. "Nice! Cop on a horse!"

Greg stole a brief glance at his son's excited face, then went back to staring forward. "Get used to it- you'll be seeing a lot more of them now that you've moved back."

"Well, yeah, I've seen a couple already," Dean replied, eye now back on the road. "They're just- well, they're cool. Not really something I saw in Dallas. The novelty'll never wear off." Stopping for a light, Dean took a look in Greg's direction and frowned. "You okay?"

"Fine, I'm fine." Greg blinked. "I'm good."

Dean sighed. "Sure you are." His mouth set itself into a line as he drove smoothly past Osgoode Hall. "I blow you off for almost ten years and then showed up out of the blue. It's interesting that you'd be fine with having me being here after I've been a total jackass all this time."

"Why wouldn't I be fine with that? You're my son- nothing else matters." Greg looked out the window. "Well, maybe one other thing matters right now."

"What?"

"Finding a decent parking space."

(*&^&*()_(*&^%$%^&*(*&

_**Meanwhile, back at the SRU...**_

"Hey, look at that." Ed looked out the front window as he drove the Suburban into the garage. "A welcoming committee."

"Wonder what they want," Wordy commented, eyeing the trio of their fellow constables leaning against the wall, waiting for whatever news they could get.

Parking the SUV in it's spot and getting out, Ed walked around the front of the car and over to where everyone was standing. "Guys."

Troy was the first to respond. "The boss okay?"

"He's fine, he's good. He's at St. Pat's, getting himself checked out, just to be safe."

"Took care of your gangbanger for you," Rollie threw in, just as the rest of Team One walked up to join them.

"How'd it go?" Wordy asked. Rollie shrugged. "Piece of cake. "Course, as soon as we were done with him, we hauled our asses back here."

"Everyone's hauling there asses over here," Donna interjected. The group began their walk from the garage to the main area of the SRU.

"Why, who's here already?" Jules asked. Donna lifted a hand and counted off with her fingers. "Glenn Gish, Jim Keach, Sarah Moscowitz, Inspector Stainton, Detective Tagliaferro, Sidney Moretti from the prosecutor's office, Scott Parker..."

"Just Scottie?" Ed interrupted.

"For now," Donna replied. "There's no telling how many more of them are going to show up."

"How many more of who?" Leah asked Jules, quietly.

"The boss's family," Jules replied. "The boss is number three out of six- so he and the older two boys are all cops, along with his sister Maggie. His other sister is a doctor and his youngest brother is a crown prosecutor.

"And that's only because I have three legs."

"Scottie!" Ed stepped forward and gave Greg's youngest brother a one-armed hug. "You look like crap, man."

"Yeah, well, my big brother was kidnapped, didn't you hear?" Scott gave Ed a wry smile as he shifted some of his weight onto the support of his cane. "Not to mention the stunt that his girlfriend pulled yesterday."

"What stunt was that?" Ed asked as they began walking. "All we heard is that she caught her psycho killer."

"Yeah, her psycho killer, a couple of his less psycho colleagues, oh, and Morris Trelane, too. Naismith's pissed that he didn't get to do that one himself."

"Wait a sec," Leah interrupted. "Morris Trelane? You mean, as in Morris Trelane..."

"Victor Sardis's right hand man?" Scott finished. "Yes. Moretti went nuts when she heard- I think she wants to nominate Sylvia for sainthood."

"Saint Sylvia of Toronto," Spike quipped. "Patron saint of kick-ass cops, kick-ass girlfriend, kick ass single moms..."

There came a snort from up ahead and slightly to the side. "Uscire da quando si e avanti, Tesoro."

_***Quit while you're ahead, darling (literal- treasure)***_

"What the hell?" Spike craned his neck to see who had spoken. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, that's nice," Bridget answered, rolling her eyes. "I'm Sylvia's partner- where else would I be?"

"You're- of course you are," Spike uttered in exasperation. "How many Detective Tagliaferro's could there possibly be?"

Scott's eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "You two know each other?"

"We dated in high school," Bridget told Scott. Spike brought his palm to his forehead. "Oh dear god."

Bridget looked at Spike and laughed before turning her attention back to Scott. "And then I met up with him for the first time since prom when we both happened to be in Jamaica."

Spike's face reddened; Scott laughed even harder; Bridget's grin got even wider. "I've got a lot more where that came from, embarrassing photos and all."

"Okay, Bridget, that's enough for now." A tall reddish-blonde unknown to most of the team came out of nowhere and walked up to Bridget. "Let's go so these guys can get this day's miserable business over with."

"Thank you Sidney."

Sidney flashed the group a smile. "No problem. Go do your thing."

"And that was..."

"Sidney Moretti," Ed answered, putting one of the shotguns back in its place. "Crown prosecutor, just like Scottie here."

Wordy was next, a smile on his face. "So that was Bridget?"

"Not now, okay?" Spike groused. "We've got more important things to deal with."

Jules hung up her equipment before turning to face Scott. "You said your brother's girlfriend was here?"

"Yeah." Scott scratched the back of his head. "She pretty much dragged Luria into Holleran's office as soon as she got here."

"How'd she look?" Sam asked next. Scott let out a sigh. "Pale, red around the eyes- basically like one of those red pandas they showed on the Discovery Channel the other night. I talked to Constable Moscowitz after Sylvia left with Luria- she said that, apart from a stray tear or two when she found out that Greg was okay, Sylvia hasn't really gotten emotional at all."

"She's in shock." Donna reappeared from around a corner. "Who wouldn't be?"

Ed looked at Scott incredulously. "You spend your nights watching the Discovery Channel? Jesus, Scottie, ask Moretti out already!" Everybody burst out laughing as Scott's face darkened to a tomato- esque shade of red. "Okay, first of all..."

"Um, guys?" Kira clearing her throat made everyone turn and look. "Not to rush you, or anything, but the Sarge's sister Emily is here and she's threatening to shove her stethoscope up someone's ass if she doesn't get answers soon."

Scott snorted. "She's pregnant- I'd like to see her try."

Kira kept a straight face. "Yeah, well, your sister Maggie and your brother Donnie are almost here as well. How do you think they'll react if they're kept waiting?"

^$&%^$^%^&*(^(^*(%&

"Gweg."

"No, Piper, not 'Gweg.' 'Greg.' Grrrrr-eg."

"Gweg."

Bobby glanced up from his Blackberry. "Give it up, Emily. You'll only stress yourself out."

Emily took a brief, annoyed glance at her brother before looking back at her daughter. "Uncle Bobby has no idea what he's talking about, does he, sweetie?"

"Beee!"

"Very good, Piper."

"MEEMEE! TEESA!"

Emily turned around when her daughter went into spasms of glee, clapping her hands and dancing in her mother's lap. "No, sweetie, it's Mia and TJ."

"Mee Mee an' Teesa."

"Where's Salem?"

"With Daddo and Nana." TJ sat down on the bench of one of the exercise machines. "Where is everyone?"

"Gish and Keach are talking with Stainton somewhere... there," Sarah began, waving her hand vaguely over her head, "and Detective Tagliaferro and Counsellor Moretti are obviously here with the rest of us."

"I thought Sylvia was here," Mia said, plopping down on the floor.

"She is- she's in Holleran's office."

"Doing what?"

"Talking to Luria, apparently."

Bobby was the first one to look up. "Ed!" He stood up. "Is he okay?"

"It's nice to see you too, Staff Sergeant." They shook hands. "And yes, he's okay. He's just getting checked out at St. Pat's."

Emily spoke as everyone found a place to lean or sit. "How bad is it?"

"It's a hard whack to the back of the head and inhaling alot of gas, Doc," Sam told her. "He's probably gonna have a bitch of concussion and some bruised ribs, but its nothing they can't fix."

"You know, Sam, they generally discourage agitating pregnant women."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Please. He had the balls to give it to me straight."

"Good, then he's the one who gets to talk to Sylvia as soon as she decides to come out."

"Oh, you're all gonna have to talk to her." Luria appeared out of nowhere and walked over to join the group.

"Doc!" Ed looked around. "Where's your patient?"

"Waiting for you guys in the briefing room."

"You're kidding."

"Nope." Luria shook her head. "She wants to sit in. So does Keach."

"That's crazy!"

"That's what I said, but they insist they'll be fine."

Before Ed could reply yet again, Keach quickly appeared and walked over. "What's taking you guys so long?"

"Look, sir..."

"Call me sir again, Eddie, and I'll sic the dogs on you. Now, can we go before Sylvia decides she wants to hit something, please?"

Ed sighed. "Yeah." He waved his hand. "come on, team. Let's get this over with."

7868563475498576757

_*okay, for obvious reasons, certain people will be introduced in the next chapter.*_


	11. Interlude

"So, all those people are Parker's family?"

Jules nodded, keeping her voice low in the same way Leah had. "Yeah- Emily is his sister, Staff Sergeant Parker is his older brother. The little girl is Emily's daughter; the other two are the daughters of the Boss's oldest brother and the older of his two younger sisters, respectively. The younger one, Mia, helps out at HQ with computer stuff sometimes, and, well, you saw TJ's uniform."

Leah nodded. "Yeah. Is it a family thing, being a cop?"

"Oh, it's a family thing, all right," Wordy chimed in, having dropped back to listen while they walked. "The boss is one of six kids; Emily is the only one who isn't a cop. Of course, their dad was…" He stopped abruptly as the words left his mouth. "Crap."

"What?"

Wordy looked in Ed's direction. "Do we know if the Chief knows?"

Ed stopped now as well, his eyes widening. "Uh oh."

Keach resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, he knows. Where do you think Tweedledee and tweedledork out there came from? Nevermind that the old man still has a police scanner in his office."

Ed nodded, remembering. "Lucky for us the Chief's got a level head on his shoulders, even considering that this is his son."

"Yeah, well, Sylvia started trying to call them as soon as she got here. She was still on the phone last time I checked."

"Guess we got back just in time, then," Spike said as they approached their destination.

As they neared the end of the hallway, they became increasingly aware of the fact that someone there was conducting a very stilted and stressful phone conversation.

"Look, Marion... no, Marion, I haven't seen him since he was rescued , but... Marion, as far as I know, he's fine! Look, can you put Alan on- Marion, please, just put one of them on the phone, okay?"

"Clearly, things have not gone well," Troy muttered, waving his hand at Kira, who was standing at the at the partially-opened briefing room door. Kira nodded, then turned to look into the briefing room, "Sylvia!"

Sylvia, who turned around quickly and saw the team, exhaled deeply and gave them a small smile, the relief clearly visible on her face.

"Marion- Marion, the team is here, Marion, they're here. They just got back- yeah, hold on." Pulling the phone away from her ear, Sylvia walked over to where Ed and Troy were standing at the head of the group. "Hey Eddie. Help me out, would you?"

"No problem." Ed reached over and gently took the phone from Sylvia's outstretched hand. "You take a break." Putting the phone to his ear, Ed proceeded to try and work some magic. "Mrs. Parker? It's Ed Lane."

As Ed turned away to try and reassure Greg's mom, Sylvia turned to the rest of the team. "Hey guys. How's it going?" Every one of the team members snorted in laughter.

"Does everyone else involved in yesterday's op look as bad as you do, Detective?"

Spike turned to look at his younger team mate in consternation. "Sam?"

"What? I wanna know."

Sylvia rolled her eyes and snorted in laughter herself. "Relax, Spike. At least he's being honest." Turning to Sam, she proceeded to answer his question. "depends on how you look at it. Sergeant Gish had his face a little torn up, but he'll be fine. Troy and his minions came out without a scratch." At this, she turned briefly in Troy's direction to cast him a mock-glare. "Jerks."

Troy just shrugged. "What can I say? We're good at what we do."

Rolling her eyes again, Sylvia turned back to face Sam. "Anyway, there's me, obviously, and Frankie Raimos, who somehow managed to break a couple of fingers. There is also Bridget, outside. She pulled a stupid ass move yesterday."

"What did she do?"

Sylvia huffed in exasperation. "Did a slider down the back alley- she ended up with the mother of all bruises on her left leg, not to mention cuts and scrape from just above her knee to just below her ribcage." Seeing Sam grimace, Sylvia ended on a slightly humourous note. "She did catch the guy, though."

"She was limping," Spike commented. Sylvia nodded. "Yeah, we'll be seeing that for awhile. By the way, Spike, about Bridget…"

"what about her?"

"Apparently the two of you knew each other in high school." Sylvia had a glimmer in her eye and an evil smirk starting on her face. Spike groaned. "You know about that?"

"Spike, honey, I'm her partner. I know almost everything."

"Wait." Jules stepped forward to join the conversation. "That really was THE Bridget?"

Spike threw an accusatory glare in Sylvia's direction. "You see what you did, l'anziana?"

"Hey!"

"Children, children, please!" Finished with his phone conversation, Ed had stepped forward and was now pointing his hand in Sylvia's direction. "Here. Damage control completed."

Sylvia's shoulders relaxed considerably. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ed replied. "Now, can we get started or what?"

&*(^$&(^)&_*^)(%&$*^&%(^)&*_+&(^)%*(&^


	12. Family, Part II

_More often than not, the people that you happen to be related to are your best friends…You can never really turn away from them, and you will always defend them to the best of your ability; they are your greatest resource, and the greatest love will come from them… that is family. __**–Jerry Grant Blakeney**_

_**+_)()_)**_

"What do you mean, kidnapped?"

The loud shout from above drew three pairs of eyes away from their plates.

"Oh-kay, then," Salem commented after a moment, when nobody else made a move to speak. She looked back down at her bowl. "Sounds like TJ's getting called in after all."

"I thought you said Theresa wasn't supposed to work today," Marion commented, directing a glance at her husband from across the table; for his part, Chief Parker threw up his hands in defeat. "Who knows? It's not like I'm in charge anymore."

"Grandma's right, Daddo." The younger of the two men at the table, TJ's twin, rose up from his seat, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. "TJ's supposed to have the day off." Clicking a button on his buzzing phone, he brought up his newest message. "We both are, after yester…" He trailed off as he scanned the message, his eyes growing wider as the read. "Shit." He looked up, directing his voice towards the hallway outside the kitchen. "TJ!"

"Everything alright, Junior?" Chief Parker asked, concerned about his namesake's sudden change of behaviour. "What's going on?"

"Um…" Alan was at a loss for words. "Uncle Greg was… kidnapped on his way to work this morning."

Their reactions were instantaneous- both Chief Parker and his wife droppef their spoons with a clatter, splashing their soup all over the table, while Salem started to choke on the mouthful of minestrone that she had just swallowed.

"I see you told them." Walking into the kitchen, TJ's normally bright and happy face was chalk white and serious-looking. "Breathe, Salem."

Chief Parker started pounding his granddaughter on the back. "So it's true, then." His voice was grim. TJ nodded. "Yeah."

"What do they know?" Marion's voice was glaringly tense- the self-control she was using was obvious. TJ sighed. "Not a lot- Uncle Greg was on his way to work, had to stop for some reason at Shuter and Vic, phoned in a possible overdose to 911, and then the phone call was abruptly cut off."

"they found his car?"

TJ nodded. "Abandoned in the alley, along with his PDA- his team are trying to trace the calls as we speak."

"What else have they said?"

TJ shook her head, pocketing her phone. "Just that they're calling everyone in to help look- Kira Marlowe says she'll get someone to call me directly if something happens."

"Screw the phone calls." Chief Parker was out of his chair in a flash. "We'll get the information ourselves."

"Where are you going?" Marion's voice had risen a notch, edging towards something between panic and hysteria.

"Downtown." Chief Parker walked out of the kitchen and started up the stairs. "I'm gonna find out what's happening myself! Junior, TJ, get in the car."

The twins scrambled for their stuff, Alan stopping to bend and give his grandmother a kiss on the cheek. "It'll be fine, Nana. We'll find him."

"Wait for me!" A pajama-clad figure came lumbering down the stairs and made a beeline for the laptop bag sitting outside the closet. "Where are we going?"

"Mia!" Only Salem's hand on her wrist kept Marion from getting up to confront Salem's twin. "You're sick!"

"I'm better," Mia countered, pulling her coat from the hanger. "Aunt Emily said I was. And I have a security clearance-they'll have something for me to do." She shrugged on her coat and picked up her bag. "I'll be fine, Nana."

Marion opened her mouth again to retort but was cut off by the appearance of her husband in the hall with everyone else. "I'll keep an eye on her, Marion. Salem, you take care of your grandmother."

Salem straightened as best she could in her wheelchair and threw her grandfather a mock salute. "Yes, sir, Chief Parker, sir."

"Very funny." Walking into the kitchen, Chief Parker threw his granddaughter a brief smile before bending to give his wife a kiss. "I'll call you when we know something."

Marion returned the kiss. "You had damn well better." Salem snorted. Chief Parker reached over and ruffled her hair. "I meant what I said, kiddo." He turned to walk towards the front door.

"Be safe!" Marion called out after him.

"Always!" he yelled back, walking through the front door. "TJ, you take Mia. Junior, you're with me."

As they split off towards their separate cars, only Junior noticed that there was a bulge at his grandfather's side that wasn't normally there. "Uh, Daddo?"

"Not a word, Junior."

OPIYU(*)&)(*)


	13. Chapter 13 Pain,awkwardness,and towels

Love is like racing across the frozen tundra on a snowmobile which flips over, trapping you underneath. At night, the ice-weasels come.- Tom Robbins, _Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas_

Love is a word, what matters is the connection that word implies.

-Rama Chandra(Bernard White), The Matrix Revolutions

*&(*^%(&)*^&(%

"Sylvia?Sylvia!"

Snapping out of her trance-like state, Sylvia refocused her gaze on the man across the table. "Sorry. What's up?"

"We're done." Ed looked at her carefully. "You okay?"

"I don't know," she admitted, letting out a heavy sigh and taking a look around. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

"Hit the showers," Ed answered. "I sent Maggie's hell-raiser to get your bag from your car."

"Thanks." Sylvia started to get out of her chair, the stiffness apparent as she straightened herself up. "Man, that smarts."

"You're insane, you know that?" Ed commented, his face breaking into a grin. "Friggin' crazy."

Sylvia smiled back. "Shut up." The smile dropped, just a little. "It went okay, right?"

"What- oh yeah, it went great." Ed waved his hand. "Nothing to worry about."

Sylvia pursed her lips. "You sure about that?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. Come on." He walked around the table and grabbed hold of Sylvia's arm. "I'll help you down the hall."

()*^&(***^&

"Son of a BITCH!"

*BEEEEEEEEPP*

The loud noises of the horn and her brother's voice combined jolted Maggie from her snoozing state and back into the real world. "What the hell, Donnie?"

"Stupid idiot cut me off- probably talking on his cellphone," Donnie groused. "Can we write him up for–"

"Not now, Donnie," Maggie interjected wearily. "Can we just go? I mean, what's more important? Our brother or a minor traffic violation?"

"Fine," Donnie grumbled, merging into the next lane; Maggie leaned back into her previous position and closed her eyes.

*()^&*()&_(

_Greg had gone almost the full length of the walkway before he realized that someone was sitting on his front step. "Sylvia?"_

_ Sylvia made a noncommittal wave of greeting and gave him a weak smile. "Hey."_

_ Greg reached out to help her up. "You shouldn't be out here."_

_ "I've been medically cleared. I can go back to work whenever I want… well, I can go back on Monday- for light duty only." The phrase 'light duty' was given particular emphasis by Sylvia's tight grip on his arm. _

"_Yeah, I can tell." Greg looped Sylvia's arm through his as they walked to the door. _

"_And I forgot my key."_

" _I figured that too." Opening the door, Greg gently pulled her through the door before turning around and closing the door again. "Who's taking care of Charlie?" _

"_Mia." Sylvia toed off her shoes and walked into the hallway, continuing down towards the family room. "She offered to stay for a while, if I needed her to."_

"_And do you?" Greg asked, walking in to join her. Sylvia sat down on the couch. "I don't know-maybe. I told her that I needed to talk to you; she seemed to derive a lot from that statement."_

_Greg took a seat next to her. "So?"_

"_So…" Reaching for Greg's hand, Sylvia dragged it over to her lap and held it between her own hands. "I don't know what to do, Greg."_

"_What do you mean?" _

_Sylvia turned her head to look at him, and Greg saw the tears that were threatening to fall from the corners of her eyes. _

_Sylvia blinked twice before speaking again. "I cried after you told me, I sat and cried with Charlie, I cried after the funeral, I yelled, I screamed, I threw things- I thought I had exhausted all the coping mechanisms."_

"_But?" Greg prompted. Sylvia sniffed before replying. "But then I was home sick for a week, and I had nothing to do but sit and think about how there was still a big hole that hadn't been filled up, and… and I still have no idea how to fill it." The brimming tears pushed their way over the edge and started to roll down her cheeks. Squeezing Greg's hand, Sylvia next spoke in a tiny voice so unlike her own. "I don't know what to do. I guess I thought that the negotiator part of you might be able to make it go away, or something, but…" Here she stopped, and began to sob. "I don't know what to do."_

"_Hey." Wrapping his arms around her an pulling her to rest against his chest, Greg pressed a kiss to the top of his girlfriend's head and just sat there with his arms wrapped around her, and with her hands curling themselves around his arm like it was some sort of anchor. "It'll be okay, Sylvia. Everything will turn out okay, I promise."_

_Sylvia said nothing- she just snuggled up against him and kept crying; Greg kept his arms around her, not letting go, wanting to make sure she felt safe._

_And, much later, after Sylvia had fallen asleep and he had left her on the couch and covered her with a blanket, he walked over to his kitchen and picked up the phone, dialling what was now a familiar number. _

"_Hello?"_

"_Mia? It's Uncle Greg. I'll give you a hundred fifty if you take care of Charlie for the whole weekend."_

_*&(%*^&(^&)&*^(_

The two women already in the change room looked up when Sylvia entered, but didn't comment, having been doing enough talking before she came in. They waited until she had put her bag down and started to take stuff out before making any sort of move.

Jules cleared her throat. "Um… you need help with anything, Sylvia?"

"No- well, I do need a towel," Sylvia admitted sheepishly. "This is my go bag, not my gym bag."

"Do you keep both in your car?" Leah asked. Sylvia shook her head. "Just the go bag, in case of emergencies. Or, you know, impromptu sleepovers."

Jules snorted in laughter, knowing exactly what it was that Sylvia meant. "Right." She grabbed a fresh towel from her locker shelf and handed it to Sylvia. "Here."

"Thanks." Sylvia accepted the towel. "Listen, um…"

Leah got it before Jules did. "I'll be in the showers." She walked out, leaving Sylvia and Jules alone by the lockers; after watching Leah leave, Jules turned back towards Sylvia. "Everything okay, Sylvia?"

Sylvia chewed on her lower lip a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, everything's fine, it's just… how's Greg doing, really?" She sat down, very awkwardly- Jules walked over and sat down next to her. "He's still in shock, pretty much. You heard Ed talking about the gas."

Sylvia nodded, then took a deep breath. "What else? I mean, besides the gas and, you know, Dean."

"He apparently got shoved off a flight of stairs," Jules told her, "so he has a gash on the back of his head- he'll probably have a concussion, too."

"Okay, so, that's two of us that probably won't sleep tonight," Sylvia mused. "Good thing Tuesday was laundry day."

Jules' forehead creased in confusion. "Why does that matter?"

"Fresh bed linen for the pullout couch- which, you know, can be a good place to hang out when you can't sleep." Sylvia let out a small chuckle in spite of herself, which made Jules smile. "Nice."

"Yeah." Suddenly, Sylvia looked at her wrist. "Damn."

"What's up?" Jules asked. Sylvia let out a huff of impatience. "Just remembered I'm not supposed to get this wet. I can go without it, but I can't really get it off by myself." She looked at Jules. "Would you mind?"

"Not at all," Jules replied, sliding a little closer so that she could take Sylvia's wrist in her hand. "We'll have it off in no time."

()*^()&_(&


End file.
